A More Perfect Union

Isn’t it a perverse thing that, for most people, their lives are tied to their birth country? In most cases, a person is born into one country and remains a citizen and resident of that country until death. This is part of what makes nations in the Western Hemisphere so unusual. In countries like the United States, Canada, or Brazil, most people are the descendants of immigrants. In an even stranger turn, most of these children of immigrants will stay in their birth countries. This is especially true in the case of the United States, because our country has the largest economy in the world, one of the highest figures for GDP per capita, and we are not currently fighting any wars on our own soil. Two of my siblings, Diane and Craig, both grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, got married, own houses, and raised families not more than 20 miles from where they were born. We tend to be the beacon of freedom and hope for people from other countries. But, being born an American citizen, it’s also a kind of entrapment. To become a citizen of another country can require years of work and residency, and in many countries, full citizenship is not even possible for outsiders. For instance, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is full of foreign workers, but almost none of them have a shot at UAE citizenship.




My mother was born in Poland and lived there until she was in her mid-20s (excluding a brief period where she lived in England). She just dropped a bombshell on me a couple days ago – something that hadn’t even crossed my mind until now. My mom is still a Polish citizen, which means that I am technically eligible for Polish citizenship. I could have a Polish passport, live in Poland without a visa, and vote in Polish elections … the typical rights and privileges. As a bonus, Poland is part of the European Union, and one of the “Four Freedoms” of the E.U. is the free movement of persons. From the Wikipedia article: “Workers [in the E.U.] have the right to move to a different Member State, to look for work and be employed under the same conditions as nationals of that State.”



Because of this, if I were to acquire dual Polish-American citizenship, I would have the freedom to work and live permanently in England, France, Spain, Italy, or even Latvia! I could work at a chalet in the Alps, or buy a castle near the Rhein. Perhaps I could even get work at a coffee shop in Amsterdam (cough cough). Rick Steves would be so jealous. Of course, this all sounds too good to be true, and I view every opportunity with cautious optimism. If I ever ran into legal troubles in Poland, the American embassy wouldn’t be able to bail me out because I’m a Polish citizen. And, even though Poland abolished compulsory service in 2009, if they were ever at war and reinstituted the draft, I could be called into the Polish armed forces. I’m frightened of war as it is, but Poland does not have a history of military prowess. Despite the fact that we in the United States owe part of our independence to Polish generals like Pulaski and Kosciusko, Poland has been defeated or otherwise subjugated or partitioned by the Germans, the Russians, the Prussians, the Austrians, the Swedes, the Mongols, and the Tatars, and I’m sure I’m missing a few others. Unlike the United States, which is protected by two oceans, Poland is like the doormat of Europe. But I hope Poland doesn’t get into any skirmishes in the near future.



I find it strange that I could become a citizen of Poland without having spent more than a week inside the country. I find it strange that I could become a Polish citizen without knowing more than a handful of Polish words and phrases. It feels almost like cheating. I find it strange that my mother spent many years fighting a communist bureaucracy trying to get out of Poland, but it wouldn’t require nearly so much effort for me to get back in. If it all works out, I might have the opportunity to be something closer to a “citizen of the world,” where I wouldn’t be as restricted by national boundaries as most people have been in the past. It’s not so much that I want to leave the United States. Rather, it’s nice to know I have the freedom to choose somewhere else.